The boy, identified only by his first name Mostafa, was convicted of killing a man in a scuffle that began when the boy tried to save a girl who was being harassed by the drunken man, the daily Etemaad reported.
Mostafa, who had no criminal record, told the Islamic judge that when he saw the drunken man insult and harass a young girl near his home in Tehran Pars district, he intervened and tried to save the girl, but the foul-mouthed man began to beat him. In the brawl that followed, Mostafa killed the man.
The hanging of the sixteen-year-old boy is expected to take place in the next few days, now that the death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
Several other minors have been sentenced to death or executed since hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the race to become Irans president.
